First Coast communities can strengthen their economic futures by helping people struggling today with work or home problems exacerbated by the pandemic, a Northeast Florida Regional Council panel is advising.
The council is beginning to circulate a COVID-19 economic recovery plan that focuses on investments in infrastructure, help for small businesses and affordable housing to ease strains that the pandemic underscored.
“Addressing these will help us in the future,” said Roxanne Horvath, a St. Augustine city commissioner who was part of a 20-member task for on economic resilience that began meeting in October.
The council’s governing board last week approved a 40-page task force report recommending steps that cities and counties can follow to address each of the focus areas.
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U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division last week announced an education and enforcement initiative designed to help the agricultural industry in the Southeast to increase compliance with federal labor laws. In addition to enforcement activity, the initiative provides compliance assistance to employers and educates workers and other stakeholders, the agency said in a news release. Learn more at http://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd.
AIM marks a research milestone
Ocala-based AIM ImmunoTech Inc. announced last week that it has dosed the first healthy subjects in its Phase 1 clinical study on the safety of its drug Ampligen.
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The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and five other regional planning councils around Florida will receive a total of $1,499,000 from the state to develop a cohesive statewide approach to flood planning. The three-year project will provide a framework for municipalities across Florida to create disaster models, prepare actionable strategies and determine how to prioritize and fund mitigation projects.
The funding for the project is part of nearly $20 million in resiliency funding awarded by Florida s Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) to 37 municipalities, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations around the state.
The Regional Planning Councils will share information and build templates for municipalities around the state to use in developing mapping, models and mitigation plans to address flooding challenges in their respective areas.